North Carolina State University Athletics
Signing Day: Owino's Journey to NC State
2/1/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 1, 2012
Raleigh, N.C. - Today thousands of young men across the country will sign on the dotted line of a letter of intent to attend and play football for the college of their choice. For most of them, it's the culmination of years of work and dreams.
For a young man in Raleigh, N.C., the day is just as special, but for many different reasons. A year ago, Desmond Owino had never even watched a football game, much less played in one.
Owino came to Raleigh in December of 2010 from his home in Nairobi, Kenya. His father, Simpson, had been here for nine years working to support his family back in Africa. He would talk to his father on the phone once a week and his mother traveled to the U.S. every year or so to see his dad, but he hadn't seen him in almost 10 years.
"I came to be with my dad," says Owino in his heavy accent. "I came as a student, to learn over here. That was the plan."
That plan had worked well for Owino's older siblings. His brother played basketball at Peninsula College in Seattle and now attends Washington State, while his sister is pursuing a master's degree at Ohio State. And although, like many Kenyan children, he had spent years in boarding school, leaving his mother to move across the world was difficult.
"It was pretty much hard," he remembers. "I had friends over there and my mom is there still. I miss a lot of people. I talk to my mother once a week."
The transition from life in Kenya to life in Raleigh was smooth for Owino, as he settled in at Sanderson High School. He recalls how classmates and teachers tried to use google translator to speak to him in Swahili before they realized he spoke English.
Moving from a city with almost five million inhabitants to one with around half a million was also a big change. "I much like the way people drive cars over here," he laughs. "It is much more organized here."
Owino was no stranger to sports when he arrived in the U.S. In Kenya he played rugby and basketball but didn't know much about American football. One day, he was walking down the hall of his school, when a man stopped him.
"I met coach and he asked me if I can play football. He saw a big boy. I told him I would think about it and after a month I told him I would play. There was not a rugby team so I could play football."
Owino says that in some ways, football is much easier than rugby for a simple reason: "We put on pads," he says.
"I didn't even know the game or how many players are on the field. They just told me get on the line and go for the ball. It took time. Before the scrimmage we went for a camp during the summer. I was having a hard time, knowing the rules about the facemask. But in about a week I knew how to get off the ball."
That would be a bit of an understatement.
In Sanderson's first scrimmage against Harnett Central, Owino tallied six sacks and another tackle. Much to his amazement, he went from not knowing how to even put on his uniform, to being recruited by major college programs.
"I do like playing," he continues. "Whatever I do, I put my mindset to it. I'm pretty much happy because sometimes some people tell me `you are blessed.' Some people are dying for a scholarship and for me I am like, `OK, I don't know a lot about the recruiting things, but I am happy.'"
Owino says he chose NC State "because I felt it is the best place for me and I can feel the red and white in my blood."
